The five-minute meeting took place in the foyer at the Pope's residence at the Vatican.

Pope Francis later referred to the meeting as "a matter of politeness".

The Pope added " . . . and if anybody thinks that greeting somebody amounts to meddling in politics, they should go find a psychiatrist".

Mr Sanders had attended a conference on economics at the Vatican on Friday.

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The meeting between Cardinal Gerhard Müller and Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX, on September 21, has been labelled as "informal".

If it goes ahead, it will be Cardinal Müller's first meeting with Bishop Fellay since the former's appointment as prefect.

As head of the CDF, the German cardinal is also president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which is charged with helping to bring about reconciliation with the SSPX.

In a speech last year, Bishop Fellay called Pope Francis a "genuine modernist" who is making "a real disaster" for the Church "10,000 times worse".

Speaking at the time, Cardinal George Pell said Bishop Fellay's comments were "absolute rubbish" and a "gigantic misreading" of the Pope.

Cardinal Müller was reportedly opposed to the SSPX when he was bishop in Regensburg, Tradinews reports.

Talks between the Vatican and the SSPX were halted when the latter was unable accept the contents of a "doctrinal preamble" that outlined principles and criteria necessary to guarantee fidelity to the Church and its teaching.

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